An in-depth look at the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act, backed by Hollywood and opposed by the largest Web companies and civil liberties groups.
(Posted in Privacy Inc. by Declan McCullagh)
January 18, 2012

SOPA and Protect IP Act have finally splintered a Democrat-Republican alliance in favor of expanding copyright law that's been in place since the 1990s.
(Posted in Privacy Inc. by Declan McCullagh)
February 1, 2012 10:55 a.m. PT

In the most decisive sign yet that support for controversial antipiracy legislation has collapsed, Sen. Harry Reid issues a statement announcing he has postponed the vote on the Protect IP Act.
(Posted in Media Maverick by Greg Sandoval)
January 20, 2012 6:42 a.m. PT

During CNN debate in South Carolina, Republican hopefuls lend a sharp partisan edge to the protest against the legislation by Wikipedia, Google, and thousands of other Web sites.
(Posted in Privacy Inc. by Declan McCullagh)
January 19, 2012 11:59 p.m. PT

According to one report, some movie moguls feel betrayed over Obama's SOPA stance and don't plan to donate to the president's re-election campaign.
(Posted in Media Maverick by Greg Sandoval)
January 19, 2012 10:46 a.m. PT

The blackout action by Wikipedia, Google, and others demonstrated that the legislation could rock the very foundations of the Web. The daylong event also made it very difficult for one ZDNet editor to do his job.
(Posted in Between the Lines by Andrew Nusca)
January 19, 2012 3:15 a.m. PT

Social media has been buzzing about the Stop Online Piracy Act for days, but today, talk about the bill exploded on Twitter and elsewhere. Mentions were up by more than 3,300 percent.
(Posted in Geek Gestalt by Daniel Terdiman)
January 18, 2012 3:35 p.m. PT

Just because publications like Reddit, BoingBoing, and PostSecret blacked out their Web sites today, doesn't mean the people who run them got to sit back and relax. Quite the opposite, actually.
(Posted in Geek Gestalt by Daniel Terdiman)
January 18, 2012 2:54 p.m. PT

In a Facebook post and his first tweet in nearly three years, the CEO of the world's largest social network made it clear how he feels about the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act: He wants them defeated.
(Posted in Geek Gestalt by Daniel Terdiman)
January 18, 2012 11:28 a.m. PT

Rep. Lamar Smith says the House will continue to try and enact legislation that protects consumers from "foreign thieves." The fight over SOPA, albeit a watered down version, goes on.
(Posted in Media Maverick by Greg Sandoval)
January 17 2012 1:01 p.m. PT

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales says the English version of the site will shut down for 24 hours on Wednesday to send "a BIG message" to Washington opposing the controversial antipiracy bill.
(Posted in Digital Media by Steven Musil)
January 16, 2012 10:40 a.m. PT

An important vote on SOPA is held up in the House, and support in the Senate appears to be faltering. At the same time, the White House sounds a critical note on the antipiracy bills.
(Posted in Media Maverick by Greg Sandoval)
January 14, 2012 3:58 p.m. PT

A lot of people are fiercely committed to defeating the Stop Online Piracy Act. One way they're expressing their displeasure with the bipartisan bill is adding antilegislation banners to their Twitter profile images.
(Posted in Geek Gestalt by Daniel Terdiman)
January 14, 2012 2:59 p.m. PT

Obama administration issues statement about stance on Stop Online Piracy Act and other pending antipiracy legislation, saying that while the administration recognizes need for laws that fight online piracy, it's wary of laws that could lead to censorship, cybersecurity problems, a quashing of innovation, and other issues.
(Posted in Digital Media by Edward Moyer)
January 14, 2012 10:20 a.m. PT

Rep. Lamar Smith, chairman of the house judiciary committee, says he will remove the provision in SOPA that requires ISPs to block access to foreign Web sites accused of piracy.
(Posted in Media Maverick by Greg Sandoval and Declan McCullagh)
January 13, 2012 1:27 p.m. PT

If you want to head off looming votes on the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Senate's Protect IP Act, act now, congressional foes of the proposals say.
(Posted in Privacy Inc. by Declan McCullagh)
January 11, 2012 5:05 p.m. PT

In a video since removed from YouTube, Gore said that "anything that would serve to threaten the vibrancy and freedom of the Internet in the future, I'm against."
(Posted in Privacy Inc. by Declan McCullagh)
January 6, 2012 12:33 p.m. PT

Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist endorsed the Stop Online Piracy Act last month. Now the high-profile conservative group is expressing concerns about how SOPA would affect free speech and innovation.
(Posted in Privacy Inc. by Declan McCullagh)
January 5, 2012 4:28 p.m. PT

commentary A new generation of technology freedom fighters is emerging to fight lopsided legislation including SOPA and Protect IP. Win or lose, the real question is whether they can create something that will last beyond just one issue.
(Posted in Politics and Law by Larry Downes)
January 5, 2012 11:42 a.m. PT

It could be a coincidence or it could a collective cold shoulder for Go Daddy for its SOPA support--though the company has reversed course. (Posted in Digital Media by Natalie Weinstein)December 24, 2011 3:25 p.m. PT

Facing increasing pressure for its support of the Stop Online Piracy Act, domain registrar Go Daddy said that it's no longer supporting the bill.
(Posted in Politics and Law by Josh Lowensohn)
December 23, 2011 11:39 a.m. PT

When defending intellectual property rights, the influential Heritage Foundation often sounds like it's channeling Hollywood lobbyists. But not when it comes to the Stop Online Piracy Act.
(Posted in Privacy Inc. by Declan McCullagh)
December 21, 2011 9:41 p.m. PT

Hollywood-backed Stop Online Piracy Act goes further than earlier versions and targets software that can "bypass" or "circumvent" anti-piracy blocks. The Tor Project worries it could be at risk.
(Posted in Privacy Inc. by Declan McCullagh)
December 21, 2011 12:24 p.m. PT

Q&A The songwriter behind the 2007 Internet hit "I Got a Crush on Obama" is now taking aim at SOPA in a new music video titled "Firewall."
(Posted in Privacy Inc. by Declan McCullagh)
December 20, 2011 5:12 p.m. PT

What supporters of SOPA had hoped would be speedy committee approval took a porn-and-Twitter detour through dozens of amendments. The result: A reprieve for Internet companies.
(Posted in Privacy Inc. by Declan McCullagh)
December 16, 2011 2:15 p.m. PT

Vint Cerf, the legendary computer scientist known as one of the fathers of the Internet, warns Rep. Lamar Smith that his bill will be ineffective and dangerous.
(Posted in Privacy Inc. by Declan McCullagh)
December 15, 2011 10:37 p.m. PT

Controversial Hollywood-backed copyright bill is embraced by majority of a House of Representatives committee. A vote may happen tomorrow.
(Posted in Privacy Inc. by Declan McCullagh)
December 15, 2011 10:05 p.m. PT

Marathon debate over the Stop Online Piracy Act was derailed not by free speech concerns with the bill, but rather a Twitter post that accused Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of being boring.
(Posted in Privacy Inc. by Declan McCullagh)
December 15, 2011 3:35 p.m. PT

An alternative to the Stop Online Piracy Act called the OPEN Act wouldn't block overseas Web sites such as The Pirate Bay and would be ineffective in curbing piracy, SOPA's supporters are warning.
(Posted in Privacy Inc. by Declan McCullagh)
December 14, 2011 12:49 p.m. PT

GOP committee chairman says Stop Online Piracy Act hands the attorney general far too much power and will be too "controversial" for Republican leaders to send to the House floor for a vote.
(Posted in Privacy Inc. by Declan McCullagh)
December 14, 2011 4:00 a.m. PT

commentary Sen. Ron Wyden and Rep. Darrell Issa's draft of the OPEN Act is a welcome relief to other pending legislation that would do dramatic harm to the digital economy.
(Posted in Politics and Law by Larry Downes)
December 8, 2011 3:55 p.m. PT

The company says that the average call to representatives about the bill was 53 seconds long, but the longest lasted 31 minutes, according to data it compiled.
(Posted in The Digital Home by Don Resinger)
November 18, 2011 9:27 a.m. PT

David Ulevitch, whose company claims over 30 million people using its domain name services, trekked to D.C. to oppose the Stop Online Piracy Act. He left disappointed.
(Posted in Privacy Inc. by Declan McCullagh)
November 17, 2011 11:51 p.m. PT

The Stop Online Piracy Act is "unlikely to be effective," says official from Sandia National Laboratories, part of the U.S. Department of Energy.
(Posted in Privacy Inc. by Declan McCullagh)
November 17, 2011 2:03 p.m. PT

The Web may not be perfect, but SOPA is a reactionary bill to a broken copyright system. One thought alone: The "broken Web" is ironically what makes it work.
(Posted in Between the Lines by Zack Whittaker)
November 17, 2011, 3:43 a.m. PT

Republican head of House cybersecurity panel warns that Stop Online Piracy Act could imperil efforts to make domain names more secure.
(Posted in Privacy Inc. by Declan McCullagh)
November 16, 2011 1:25 p.m. PT

The Stop Online Piracy Act raises a ruckus as the Internet wakes up to realize that this nutty copyright bill could actually pass.
(Posted in Between the Lines by Larry Dignan)
November 16, 2011, 10:15 a.m. PT

A last-minute campaign against the Stop Online Piracy Act may be working. It certainly has the bill's backers on the defensive at today's hearing before a House committee.
(Posted in Privacy Inc. by Declan McCullagh)
November 16, 2011 8:14 a.m. PT

MPAA executive who is testifying today in support of the copyright bill says that piracy kills jobs--not just for the super-rich Hollywood actors, but people who sell paint and do the dry cleaning for movie and TV productions.
(Posted in Media Maverick by Greg Sandoval)
November 16, 2011 7:34 a.m. PT

In advance of the first House of Representatives hearing on the Stop Online Piracy Act, opponents of the measure gain new allies in Google, Facebook, Twitter, Zynga, and other Web companies.
(Posted in Privacy Inc. by Declan McCullagh)
November 15, 2011 9:44 a.m. PT

commentary The bill introduced last week in the House is nothing short of a regulatory coup by Hollywood. It's the latest in a series of increasingly desperate efforts to put the Internet genie back in the bottle.
(Posted in Politics and Law by Larry Downes)
November 1, 2011 10:02 a.m. PT

The MPAA has presented the U.S. House of Representatives with a custom-crafted bill designed to put the Internet fully under the control of the industries it represents. And our government has aided and abetted along the way for years. Time for a revolution?
(Posted in Molly Rants by Molly Wood)
October 31, 2011 10:58 p.m. PT

Democratic congresswoman from Silicon Valley, who will likely lead congressional opposition to Stop Online Piracy Act, warns that the bill if passed would mean an end to the Internet as we know it.
(Posted in Privacy Inc. by Declan McCullagh)
October 27, 2011 11:25 a.m. PT